DA Hochman Announces Important Policy Changes in Prosecutions of Murders with Special Circumstances

Effective immediately, the death penalty will be sought in the
rarest of cases after extensive and thorough review

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman has implemented important changes to the current and historic policies of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office regarding its prosecution of special circumstance murder cases.

Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded. In its place, the new murder with special circumstances policy will consider pursuing the death penalty only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases. This new policy recognizes an evolving determination that the death penalty should be restricted to the most egregious sets of circumstances.

Additionally, under the new policy, defense counsel will be offered enhanced opportunities to share information about the defendant with the Special Circumstances Committee and the District Attorney when the death penalty is under consideration. Murder victims’ survivors’ views will be sought and considered prior to any final determinations being made.

The infrequency with which the death penalty will be sought in special circumstance murder cases will, in most cases, allow the District Attorney’s Office to inform the Court at an early stage that the Office is pursuing the only other sentence available under such prosecutions, a sentence of life without the possibility of parole rather than death. In addition, the standard to charge such death penalty cases at all stages of review will be beyond a reasonable doubt, not the prior standard of probable cause.

DA Hochman stated: “I remain unwaveringly committed to the comprehensive and thorough evaluation of every special circumstance murder case prosecuted in Los Angeles County, in consultation with the murder victim’s survivors and with full input on the mitigating and aggravating factors of each case, to ensure that the punishment sought by the Office is just, fair, fitting, and appropriate.”